Woman sentenced to 25 years for robbing Williamsburg couple

(From left to right) Tajaddin Daily, Jameka Smith and Derrick Smith are accused of abducting a man and a woman and forcing them to withdraw from the Wawa ATM. (Courtesy of Virginia Peninsula Regional Jail)

A Highland Springs woman was sentenced to 25 years in prison Wednesday for her involvement in the robbery and abduction of a Williamsburg couple last summer.

Jameka Smith, 34, pleaded guilty to one count of robbery in Williamsburg-James City County Circuit Court earlier this year. On Wednesday she was sentenced to 25 years with 22 years suspended, leaving her to serve three years.

Smith was one of three defendants arrested in connection with the crime, which took place in the early morning hours of Aug. 2 of last year.

A man called the authorities around 5:15 a.m. to report two men and one woman had abducted him and his girlfriend at gunpoint from their apartment on the 100 block of Merrimac Trail.

The couple was forced into a four-door Buick and taken to the Wawa on the 800 block of Merrimac Trail, where the suspects demanded they withdraw cash from the ATM, according to the police report.

When the suspects tried to force the couple back into the car, the man refused. The suspects left with the woman in their car, and the man called the authorities.

Officers stopped the car near Exit 242B on Interstate 64 East minutes after the incident was reported. The female victim was not in the car with the suspects at the time of the traffic stop, and she was later found at a nearby hotel, where she walked after the suspects dropped her off nearby.

Neither victim was injured.

In addition to Jameka Smith, Derrick Antoine Smith, 34, and Tajaddin Daily, 31, were also arrested.

Derrick Smith pleaded guilty to one count each of robbery and abduction and was sentenced to 80 years in prison with all but 16 years suspended in January.

Daily entered Alford pleas of guilt – indicating the defendant maintains his innocence but also recognizes the evidence against him is sufficient for the court to find him guilty – to one count of robbery and one count of abduction. He is still awaiting sentencing.